JACKSON AND BUD'S BUMPY RIDE- ELIZABETH KOEHLER-PENTACOFF

The year is 1903. The car, or at least the car as we know it, has been in existence for about ten years, and there are only 150 miles of paved roads in the entire United States. Horatio Jackson, a wealthy doctor from Vermont who is vacationing in San Francisco, takes a bet that no one can drive a horseless buggy cross country from California to New York.

Four days later, Jackson and a mechanic, Sewall Crocker, set out on their cross country adventure. A few weeks later, they are joined by Bud, a bull dog, who makes the trip perched in the front seat, wearing driving goggles. The trio plows through various obstacles- the rocky ledges of the California Sierras, the sand of the Oregon desert, a storm of grasshoppers in Omaha, rain and more rain, mud, mud, and more mud, not to mention endless flat tires. Eight thousand dollars 5600 miles, and 63 days later, they arrive in New York City.

A fun, light-hearted story with cartoon-like illustrations that I know kids are absolutely going to love.